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Human shields in Iraq try to make war personal
Reuters | 3/04/03 | Christine Hauser

Posted on 03/04/2003 10:49:39 AM PST by kattracks

AMMAN, March 4 (Reuters) - Outraged by the prospect of a U.S. war on Iraq, Ryan Clancy left his music shop in the United States and put himself in harm's way in Baghdad last month to serve as a "human shield" against Iraqi civilian casualties.

But, like others, he has found idealism at odds with the hard-nosed reality of Iraqi officialdom.

Last month Clancy was among about 50 Western anti-war activists who rode on red double-decker buses to Baghdad after an overland trip that started at London's Tower Bridge.

They hoped to avert a U.S.-led war by putting a human face on the potential civilian casualties by positioning themselves in communities and at hospitals and schools.

Clancy had tea with Iraqis in the market, played football with children and visited schools where students drew pictures of fears of war, such as missiles falling on smiling families.

"It was better than sitting at home and yelling at the television," the 26-year-old from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said.

"Americans tend to see the entire Iraqi people as the enemy. One of the things we want to do is humanise the Iraqis because it is a lot more difficult to drop a bomb on a person."

But in the past few days, some activists have left Baghdad disillusioned after Iraqi officials told them they had to be stationed at infrastructure sites to discourage U.S. attacks on communications, water, power and oil installations.

They were told schools would be empty anyway in war and that Iraqis needed infrastructure as a foundation for civilian life.

Two activists tagged along for a ride out of Baghdad on the buses when they returned to Syria on Monday.

Some of the 17 who left Iraq for neighbouring Jordan in the past few days are stocking up on supplies and tentatively plan to return. Others object to Iraqi interference with the choice of sites and are still deciding what to do.

"We are personalising the face of a war by showing it will be people who are under attack. It is not a computer game," said Sue Darling, a former diplomat from Surrey, England, as she sats in a hotel in the Jordanian capital of Amman sipping tea.

"I feel a sense of obligation to the Iraqi people. But the choices have now been foreclosed."

STAGING POST FOR WAR

Darling estimates about 100 remain in Iraq in a loosely knit group of peace activists and "human shields".

The shabby Saraya hotel in downtown Amman serves as an impromptu staging post for foreign activists deciding what to do next: stay out or go in.

It resembles a recreation hall in an American university dormitory. Young men and women with sandals and backpacks mill around, sip tea on sagging couches, read newspapers, smoke cigarettes or type out e-mails.

Some wear T-shirts imprinted with "Human Shield" in Arabic, or walk around in the black and white chequered Keffiyah scarves often associated with aspirations of Palestinian statehood.

"I want to go for the Iraqi people. I don't want to deploy next to water and electric installations," said Antoinette McCormick, who was a waitress in the U.S. state of New Mexico when she found out about the activist movement on the Internet.

She questioned why activists should set up camp at infrastructure sites when their first concerns are for humans.

"Most schools and hospitals have their own generators. And the water purification plants only serve the rich 40-percent of the population," she said. "That changed my mind."

Despite the collegial atmosphere, the realities of war are not overlooked. Flyers stacked up on a table in the hotel lobby warn of the dangers.

They advise volunteers of the chances of civic uprising, hostage-taking, being tried for treason, or hostility from Western troops. And of course, there are the bombs.

"Shields" would also encounter language problems unless they speak Arabic, and should avoid burdening Iraqis dependent on rations in a country strapped by sanctions, leaflets say.

And once you sign on, you might never leave.

"After war starts, it may be much harder to get out of Iraq than how you found it coming in," the flyers say. ((Writing by Christine Hauser;



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
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To: demosthenes the elder
lol, I wish I could take credit for it, I saw it on here a little over a month ago and cracked up. But not a bad idea...*begins looking up patent office*
41 posted on 03/04/2003 11:39:36 AM PST by Blue Scourge (If the Son has set you free, than you are Free indeed...)
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To: Jaxter
hrmn. Great minds think alike, I see.
42 posted on 03/04/2003 11:42:30 AM PST by demosthenes the elder (slime will never cease to be slime... why must that be explained to anyone?)
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To: kattracks
"It was better than sitting at home and yelling at the television

MAYBE NOT

43 posted on 03/04/2003 11:44:04 AM PST by Mister Baredog ((God Bless GW Bush))
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To: kattracks
"It was better than sitting at home and yelling at the television

MAYBE NOT

44 posted on 03/04/2003 11:44:33 AM PST by Mister Baredog ((God Bless GW Bush))
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To: kattracks
"Human Shields": Just another way of saying "Collateral Damage".

Suppose the bombs started dropping tomorrow. I suspect a good number of these morons would suddenly realize this isn't a game, and would head for the border. What are the chances that Iraqi soldiers would see this western face, come to the conclusion: "Possible Spy", and shoot them. After all, in that army would you like the guy next to you reporting to his superior you let a "suspected" American spy walk away?

45 posted on 03/04/2003 11:44:55 AM PST by theDentist (So..... This is Virginia..... where are all the virgins?)
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To: VRWCmember; mhking; Sabertooth; dyed_in_the_wool; JohnHuang2
To be effective, a group needs a catchy name -- preferrably one that forms a good acronym. For the human shield organization, I recommend:

Strategic Human Insertion Team: Fostering Obstruction, Resistance, & Barriers, Rejecting American Interests, & National Security.

YES! pinging all pingers - we have a viable candidate for quote of the MONTH!

46 posted on 03/04/2003 11:46:59 AM PST by demosthenes the elder (slime will never cease to be slime... why must that be explained to anyone?)
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To: kattracks
Americans tend to see the entire Iraqi people as the enemy.

No we do not. He is just saying this to justify his foolish actions. Useful idiot...

47 posted on 03/04/2003 12:03:45 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
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Some wear T-shirts imprinted with "Human Shield" in Arabic

 

Umm, are they worried about being shot at by people who speak Arabic, or are they there to act as "human shields" against (likely-) english speaking Americans?

I think that their choice of wearing shirts declaring their protected status in the "language of peace" says it all.

48 posted on 03/04/2003 12:08:34 PM PST by Fixit (http://comedian.blogspot.com//)
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To: VRWCmember; JohnHuang2
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, ...Re #34

Post of the Day nominee!
49 posted on 03/04/2003 12:12:26 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (Let's Roll)
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To: kattracks
"Most schools and hospitals have their own generators. And the water purification plants only serve the rich 40-percent of the population," she said. "That changed my mind."

Oh, MY! That is just too damned funny! Gee, Antionette, do you mean to tell us *gasp* that there are "rich" people in the land of starving babies and crushing sanctions? OH! THE HORROR! Now, that would mean that the "rich" are getting wealthy (despite sanctions)? That would mean that maybe, just maybe mind you, some iraqis are using monies meant for humanitarian purposes are not. OH, MY GOD, NO!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
50 posted on 03/04/2003 12:57:35 PM PST by wasp69 (The time has come.......)
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To: kattracks
I have been pissed of about the traitorous shields, but I'm starting to change my thinking. Burdening the Iraqis with hundreds of high maintenance leftists who are suddenly AWOL when it comes time to work might actually have been pretty smart if we'd planned it.
51 posted on 03/04/2003 1:22:46 PM PST by Stultis
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To: Stultis
They need some minstrels

Minstrels: The human shields ran away
Shields: We didn't
Minstrels: Bravely ran away
Shields: No
Minstrels: When danger reared it ugly head, they bravely turned their tails and fled. Brave, Brave human shields
Shields: No we never.

52 posted on 03/04/2003 1:34:17 PM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
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To: ohioman
Not Only Are these...So-called "Human Sheilds" Traitors they are COWARDS too!

Didn't Y'all see them Running like Diarrhea out of...Harms Way, and NOT One single shot was fired yet...although Soddom did give them their Not so cushy, prestigeous Ass -ignments!

COWARDS ALL OF THEM....the Scourage of the Human Race!

Note to these Limo - Idiot Liberals...WAR IS HELL, get Over It!

53 posted on 03/04/2003 2:10:27 PM PST by Simcha7 (Am Israel Chai!)
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To: kattracks
"I want to go for the Iraqi people. I don't want to deploy next to water and electric installations,"

They honestly thought we would bomb orphanages and hospitals..ON PURPOSE!!! How can someone hate their country so much? Hell even the Iraqis know we wouldnt, thats why they want the dumbasses around electric plants and such!!

54 posted on 03/04/2003 2:17:07 PM PST by cardinal4 (The Senate Armed Services Comm; the Chinese pipeline into US secrets)
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To: kattracks
Human shield pacifists get wake up lesson on reality of war. Film at 11.
55 posted on 03/04/2003 2:25:47 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: TADSLOS
LOL your tag line and that video from the AC-130 picking 'em off one by one a couple of weeks ago comes to mind.
56 posted on 03/04/2003 2:37:55 PM PST by jiggyboy
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To: Calpernia; 45Auto
I think (from context) that they wanted to position themselves "permanently" at the most convenient hospitals, schools, coffee houses, etc. of their own choosing, and are horrified that Saddam reserves the right of assignation to sites that aren't as baby-faced and photogenic and might actually get bombed. The visits stated were probably just that -- one-time visits of a couple of hours.
57 posted on 03/04/2003 2:49:05 PM PST by jiggyboy
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To: theDentist
Excellent analysis!
58 posted on 03/04/2003 2:52:08 PM PST by jiggyboy
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To: Simcha7
If it were up to the liberals, we would be a former-English colony speaking German.
59 posted on 03/05/2003 6:19:13 AM PST by ohioman
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To: ohioman
Shalom!

Ohioman,

Regarding your post # 59...How Right You Are!

God Bless and Keep You and Yours.

May God Bless our Troops All over the World.

60 posted on 03/05/2003 10:14:00 PM PST by Simcha7 (Am Israel Chai!)
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